Supreme Court: TET Mandatory for Teaching Service Continuation, Promotion

• Teachers with over five years left until retirement must clear TET to continue or seek promotions.
• Educators with less than five years of service left are exempt from TET.
• Issue of applying TET to minority institutions referred to a larger Bench.

The Supreme Court ruled that the Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) is an essential requirement for remaining in teaching positions or pursuing promotions.

A panel of Justices Dipankar Datta and Augustine George Masih specified that educators with over five years remaining until retirement need to pass the TET to continue in their positions.

Individuals who are not prepared or unable to meet the qualifications may choose to resign or request mandatory retirement along with end-of-service benefits. For educators approaching retirement, the Court created a provision, those with merely five years remaining until the age of retirement will be permitted to proceed without TET.

The decision was based on a series of petitions from states such as Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, questioning the necessity of TET for employment in schools. The Court additionally referred to a larger Bench the issue of whether States can mandate TET for teachers in minority institutions and the consequences for their constitutional rights.

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In 2010, the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) established minimum qualifications for teachers of Classes I to VIII, incorporating TET into those criteria.

The petitions stemmed from disagreements regarding the relevance of TET for current teachers, particularly concerning promotions and the rights of minority institutions. Petitioners contested the application of TET to current employees, while State officials supported it as a standard of quality consistent with NCTE guidelines.

Through this ruling, the Supreme Court has upheld TET as a standard necessity for the majority of current teachers, while setting aside the rights of minority institutions for later consideration.